Soon North Augusta and Midland Valley will battle for supremacy as the favorites in the South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) Class 4A, Region 4 race, which will begin this Friday. But Monday the rivals ended their holiday tournament slate with back-to-back wins to top off the Battle at the Border event at Midland Valley. The host Mustangs defeated Greenbrier 69-58 in the opener and North Augusta topped Orangeburg-Wilkinson 64-50 immediately afterwards.
Hall leads Jackets on a second half run
North Augusta, the No. 2 ranked team in class 4A, improved to 15-0 with the victory over the No. 1 ranked Bruins (3A). The win was the sixth of the season against ranked opponents for North Augusta. Senior Elijah Hall led the way with 25 points, including 16 in the second half.
The Yellow Jackets took a two-point halftime lead by scoring 5 unanswered points in the final minute of the first half. First Maliq Richards tied the game with a three point play on a putback of Khaleed Heywood’s miss. Then after a turnover by Orangeburg-Wilkinson, Hall dribbled the clock down to less than 5 seconds before driving to the free throw line and assisting Heywood for a layup after the senior made a backdoor cut against a peeking defender.
MORE: Arnold Leads Hot Shooting Jaguars to a Comeback Victory over Emmanuel
Junior Demario scored the first two field goals of the second half. Saxon brought the crowd to its feet with the second bucket, a gliding dunk 80 seconds into the period that was part of an 16-5 run that gave North Augusta a 42-31 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Hall and junior Tanner Harrell combined to score 8 unanswered points during the spurt. Hall made a three pointer from the right wing, Harrell followed with a triple in transition from the left corner, and then Hall made a pull-up jumper from 18 feet that got a friendly bounce to give the Yellow Jackets their first double digit lead of the game.
MORE: Lloyd Leads Midland Valley to a Road Win over Laney in the Wildcat Shootout
Senior trio leads Mustangs to victory
TJ McElmurray scored 28 points and grabbed 7 rebounds to help Midland Valley open Monday’s event with a victory in front of their home crowd. Fellow seniors Desmond Evans (15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists) and Justin Lloyd (13 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists) also contributed nicely as the Mustangs improved to 8-2 overall. Midland Valley ended the holiday break with four consecutive wins over teams from Georgia after defeating Laney, Josey and Hephzibah last week in the Wildcat Shootout at Laney.
The Mustangs outrebounded Greenbrier 24-11 and shot 18 more free throws than the Wolfpack. After falling behind 41-36, Midland Valley went on a 14-2 run to take a seven-point lead with 7:43 remaining. Then the Mustangs outscored Greenbrier 17-6 in the final six minutes of the game.
Greenbrier was led by sophomore Martez Ford (16 points), and juniors Cam Parada (16) and Jackson Jennings (10). Ford made 4 three pointers.
Follow Chad Cook’s coverage of local sports on Facebook, and Instagram at @AugustaPressSports, and on Twitter at @AugPressSports
